George Benson, 85, a longtime Seattle city councilman and the father of King County Metros Waterfront Streetcar in downtown Seattle, died October 25. King County Metro named the streetcar line in Bensons honor in 1992, and offered free rides on the line in his memory in Oct. 30.

Benson was inducted into the APTA Hall of Fame in 1997.

He served on the Seattle City Council from 1974 to 1993, and on the former Metro Council before the agency merged with King County. In those roles, he took the lead in supporting countywide bus service, and construction of the Downtown Seattle Bus Tunnel. He initiated Sunday bus service connecting Seattles major parks, Pioneer Square and the ship canal locks. He also played a key role in negotiating an agreement with the former Urban Mass Transit Administration to rebuild and expand Metros electric trolley system in Seattle.

In a statement, King County Metro described Bensons support of the Waterfront Streetcar Line: how he tracked down vintage streetcars in Melbourne, Australia, and bought them for $5,000 each; recruited hundreds of volunteers to restore and transport the cars across the Pacific Ocean; and kept everyone on track when they faced obstacles. The 1.6-mile line entered service in 1982.

The system also noted Bensons hands-on connection to the streetcar line. For years, he would make weekly trips down to the waterfront, walking the streetcar route to pick up litter or do little things like touching up the paint on one of the cars.

Acting FRA administrator Betty Monro issued a safety message last week regarding a rash of switching accidents, according to Gene Anirina, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Safety Liaison in the New York District.

Monro stated a review of FRAs accident and incident data demonstrates that overall safety of rail transportation continues to improve, but within 59 days of each other, seven railroad employees died while on duty, and six of the seven were engaged in switching operations.

Monro said they included a September 2 BNSF incident when a 26-year-old switchman died when he fell from the leading end of a tank car as it derailed during a switching move in Clovis, N.M.

Eighteen days later, on September 20 and the Ann Arbor Railroad in Saline, Mich., a 44-year-old brakeman died when he was crushed between a piece of track equipment and the rail car he was handling.

On October 4, a 57-year-old BNSF machinist died as a result of an injury he sustained September 29 when he was struck in the face by an object that was ejected from a hydraulic press.

On the same day, on Norfolk Southern in Harrisburg, Pa., A 58-year-old conductor was struck and killed by a shove move being performed by another crew when he stepped in front of the leading end of the move.

Three days later, on the Union Pacific, a student trainman was killed when the cars he was walking beside derailed, fell on their side, and crushed him in Springfield, Ill.

Also on October 7, a 60-year-old BNSF trainman was killed when the cars that he was standing between moved. His was the only crew working at the yard at the time in Teague, Texas

Finally on November 1, a 47-year-old conductor was killed when he was struck by a passing train in Bowdoin, Mont.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff decried what he described as a too-close relationship between railroads and federal regulators. He said he would go to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with the FRA and lawmakers. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D) are making the trip.

Asked what message he would deliver, Wolff snapped, Get more inspectors out here, and stop being so damn cozy with (the railroads).

Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Steve Kulm said since 2000 his agency has expanded its nationwide staff of inspectors, and that they have done far more inspections and more than doubled the amount of fines assessed.

John Bromley, spokesman for Omaha-based UP, said investigators would arrive in the Texas city on Wednesday.

Trevino said about 200 gallons of diesel fuel spilled, but was contained.

Union Pacific has been inspected more times, has received more violations and has paid more fines than any other railroad, Kulm said.

Last month, Hutchison asked for a federal investigation into the UP crashes.

Todays accident highlights why it is important to have a top-to-bottom review of San Antonios railroad corridor, she said.

Bromley said a railroad investigation team had been dispatched to the accident scene. The investigators will interview crewmembers, review their actions and examine the train for any signs of mechanical failure, he said.

Bromley said a UP crewmember was supervising the operation on the short spur leading to the cold storage structure. He said the conductor was in radio contact with the trains engineer.

The other four Union Pacific crashes in San Antonio occurred on mainline tracks. In one, on June 28, a UP train traveling at 40 mph struck a Burlington Northern and Santa Fe train that was diverting onto a siding. The collision split a tank car carrying chlorine gas, creating a huge toxic cloud that killed a UP conductor and two women who lived near the crash site. Two other people suffered badly burned lungs, and several more people were injured in the crashes.

Texas Rep. Charles Gonzalez is upset over the recent crashes and derailments in the An Antonio area. In a letter to the FRA acting administrator Betty Monro, the San Antonio Express-News reported Gonzalez wrote to her regarding a UP waiver request.

Ho pointed out UP is requesting a waiver of compliance from several safety standards and requirements as noticed in the Federal Register on October 26, 2004 (Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA-2004-18746). I am writing to express my strong opposition to UPs request.

He explained UP has requested that it receive a waiver from these provisions so that its trains originating in Mexico can enter the United States at Laredo, Texas without having to stop and be inspected on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border. If this waiver is granted, the trains will then be inspected in Mexico by the Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) and UP would then keep the necessary records readily accessible on the U.S. side of the border. I am extremely concerned about this proposal due to the fact that trains will be coming from Laredo, Texas to my district in Bexar County and other communities, without the benefit of proper safety inspections.

He also described the UP derailments that resulting in three deaths.

In light of UPs involvement in so many recent train accidents, including the fatal June 28 accident, now is not an appropriate time for the FRA to grant UP a waiver of any safety regulations. Instead, regulations to protect the health and safety of residents along railroad routes should be re-evaluated, updated and improved.

He added, The requested waiver would represent a backward step contrary to recent representations by the railroads that all possible efforts are being made to ensure rail safety. FRA must not create a regulatory climate that fails to impose the strictest responsibility on the railroad industry when it comes to safety.

Destination: Freedom is partially funded by the Surdna Foundation, and other contributors.

Journalists and others who wish to receive high quality NCI-originated images that appear in Destination:Freedom may do so at a nominal fee of $10.00 per image. True color Joint Photographers Group (.jpg) images average 1.7MB each. Print publishers can order images in process color (CMYK) or tagged image file format (.tif), and are nearly 6mb each. They will be snail-mailed to your address, or uploaded via file transfer protocol (FTP) to your site. All are 300 dots-per-inch.

In an effort to expand the on-line experience at the National Corridors Initiative web site, we have added a page featuring links to other rail travel sites. We hope to provide links to those cities or states that are working on rail transportation initiatives  state DOTs, legislators, governors offices, and transportation professionals  as well as some links for travelers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists.

If you have a favorite rail link, please send the uniform resource locator address (URL) to the webmaster in care of this web site. An e-mail link appears at the bottom of the NCI web site pages to get in touch with D. M. Kirkpatrick, NCIs webmaster in Boston.